Marriage Season
by andiehardy
Summary: Reduced manpower had crippled the hidden villages' operation after the war. It was the most auspicious time to marry and pop out ninja babies. Unfortunately for Sakura, Sasuke's engaged to Hyuuga Hinata. (Sasusaku Vignettes)
1. Prologue

**Desperate times call for desperate measures.**

The Great War commenced with so many casualties in the history of the Shinobi World. According to the kages' calculations, a third of the Five Great Shinobi Nations population is needed to reinstate the ninja villages to its full potential. Hence refugees and alien residents were warmly embraced into the settlements and were trained to a life of a warrior- anything to speed up the Ninja Re-population Program.

It was not enough to make the crippled hidden villages going though. Ninja personnel were few and old outnumbered the young. The ruling landlords after a series of meetings wih the kages revised the marriage code of ninjas so that ninjas as young as sixteen were allowed to marry without their guardians' consent. This revision enabled Temari of Suna to marry Nara Shikamaru despite her brothers' open disapproval. Konoha's council not so secretly hope the young newlyweds produce offspring soon. Human resource was the most valuable national resource at the time.

The new marriage code was without repercussions; Polygamy and incest, though not expressly forbidden under the code as it was long practiced by some powerful clans, were frowned upon; Illegitimate children were discriminated; Girls unmarried after their eighteenth birthday were practically spinsters; And arranged marriage was the norm. This was the parents' protest against the underage-no-guardians'-consent-required-marriage-p olicy. All these regressions happened the first year of the revised marriage code's implementation. It would seemed that the hidden villages' settlers held on to old customs to make sense of a post-war shinobi world.

So mothers were in a hurry to wed off their daughters. Only women past child-bearing age were safe from dealing with matchmakers who were too happy to be suddenly in demand. For it was a fact that even widows, and there are quite a number of them after the war, subscribed to arranged marriages if only to find a spouse capable of feeding their children. Traditionalists prescribed the proper way to be married- a matchmaker is hired to find prospects and a couple of witnesses, usually members of the villages' council, are paid to attend negotiations on the bride's dowry and marriage solemnization.

Some parents scout marriage prospects themselves though. That way they could save the matchmaker's fee and add it to the dowry instead. A lot of economical households have marriages this way, and most of these marriages turned out harmonious, if not happy.

If they were lucky, if the couples are in love, they could do away with the matchmaking and dowry negotiations. That's what Temari did. Ran all the way from Suna and from a hideous bridegroom with a wedding dress tucked under her arm, bribed a number of council members, and grab Shikamaru straight to the registry.

And if they're specially lucky, they have no relatives to interfere with their choice in a spouse. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were specially lucky in that respect. Haruno Sakura only a tad lucky. While her parents could be meddlesome, she could get her way with them if she put her mind to it. Her parents were itching to wed her off to a landlord. She was too. Itching to marry the last Uchiha that is. They were both 16, going on 17- ripe for marriage.

Of course, Sasuke had to ruin it. He dropped the bomb over ramen one day.

_ "I'm engaged to Hyuuga Hinata."_

Naruto choked on his ramen and Sakura laughed at the Uchiha's attempt to pull their legs. But Sasuke was dead serious. She stopped laughing to see he was not joking at all.

_ "I'm engaged to Hyuuga Hinata," _he repeated.

Sakura considered choking on her ramen on purpose but her ramen bowl was overturned already- the soup spilling on the counter, the bowl starting to crack from the pressure of her one clenched hand.


	2. No Hard Feelings

**i.**

Half of her meager dowry went to an understated wedding dress. Secretly bought after news of Sasuke's engagement. Wore it in front of her mirror that night and the next night and the next and the next.

* * *

**ii.**

Naruto had a fight with Sasuke. They didn't end up breaking each other's bones thank God for that. They were friends still. Sasuke was still engaged to Hinata. Sakura still take the wedding dress out of its box every night.

* * *

**iii.**

She brought him curry one evening. He was about to roast vegetables for dinner. Sasuke let her in his kitchen where she inspected the pantry. He noted Sakura was unsure in his doorway but came alive in the kitchen. She had made the place her own so that he felt like a stranger in his own apartment. She washed the dishes after while he stood beside the sink, full and useless.

The next evening she came with bags of groceries. his kitchen was the center of activity as she stocked the pantry, cooked him a meal and cleaned up after. Her cheerful chatter filling up the place.

The next evening she brought kitchen implements. He was mildly alarmed but kept silent. He was damn glad for the company even if she did all the talking.

Word got out of their "trysts". The head of the Hyuuga clan gave Sasuke a warning.

_"You cannot come here any longer,"_ Sasuke told her one evening she brought a big box to his kitchen table. She was wearing a dress he'd never seen before. He motioned her out.

_"I'm engaged."_ This two words explained everything. She smiled as if saying It's okay Sasuke-kun, you don't have to feel guilt,y I understand,It's really okay. She cheerfully bid him goodbye. No hard feelings. The box she was carrying contained not dinner for two as he suspected but a strawberry cheesecake. Sasuke checked the calendar on the wall. First week of spring, March 28.

* * *

**iv.**

Her mother asked for her dowry. Matchmakers working for ninjas from distant hidden villages and even for landlords wanting a kunoichi for a wife, were in town to scout marriageable girls. Her mother naturally wanted to grab the opportunity. Sakura had insisted in the past to keep her dowry herself and in turn to choose a groom herself. But the little scandal with Sasuke left her without suitors. It was time to advertise how much she can bring to her future husband's household. But there was no dowry.

_"All gone?"_ her mother shrieked. Little Sakura's emerald, pearl and jade hairpins inherited from a great great grandmother of chinese descent all gone.

_"No one will marry you now you ingrate child!"_ her mother had somehow upturned the dining table. Her father restraining his hysterical wife. Sakura wanted to say: I know that, I know that very well.

_"What did you do with those little treasures Sakura?"_ her father calmly asked. She didn't dare speak. You don't want to know father, trust me.

_"That Uchiha has ruined your chances of marriage to a respectable man,"_ her mother spat, forgetting about the dowry.

That's true mother.

* * *

**v.**

He made an inventory of the things Sakura brought in his kitchen. The pantry was well stocked and so was the refrigerator, it can last him two summers. The kitchen implements were remarkably expensive. It would take a year of hospital work on Sakura's part to pay for all of these. He then decided to pay her a visit.

* * *

**vi**

They were in the nursery. Sasuke handed her a pouch of valuables. Babies howling around them.

_"I'm afraid you used up your dowry to feed me Sakura."_ He knew perfectly well, the Uchiha genius. He didn't ask her why though.

When he left, Sakura cried with the babies. She held in her hands gems the color of Sasuke's eyes- black pearls and rubies. It had been his mother's, passed from one Uchiha Matriarch to the next.

One day when Hinata becomes Mrs. Uchiha, Sakura will make sure to bestow these treasures to the bride. She will tell Hinata that yes being the Uchiha's teammate, it has been in Sakura's care for a while but now the rightful rightful heiress shall have it. the Uchihas shall have them back. Yes Sakura imagined herself saying that.

But she will not tell Hinata that giving these treasures to Sakura is Sasuke's way of penance. And that Sakura accepted them to take away his guilt.

* * *

**vii.**

She helped Ino bury her dowry in the Yamanaka's garden. Ino not wanting to be a prize pleaded poverty though her beauty and name made her exactly that. There's a crate full of family heirloom ready to be buried under the wisterias. Sakura tucked the pouch of rubies and pearls in parcel and placed it among the Yamanaka's antique bowls and family scrolls.

_"You're not pregnant with Sasuke's child, are you Sakura?"_ Ino and her big mouth.

Sakura shook her head. Ino admitted the scandal worked in warding off suitors. She will sneak in and out of Kiba's room later, reputation be damned. But that would be later. Ino patted the last earth covering their dowries.

_"You know I wish you're pregnant with Sasuke's child. It'll be easier for everybody."_

Sakura didn't ask why it might be.


	3. The Peach King

**i.**

_"Don't look at me like I look forward to their marriage Sakura,"_ Naruto said, _"cause I don't."_

They were out on the park. Two rejects on a bench.

_"Talk to Sasuke-kun Naruto."_

_"I did. It didn't go well."_ Naruto grinned. _"The union of two people dear to you couldn't be so bad, if you think about it."_

Sakura wanted to say he won't stop with your girl, he's snatching your dream too.

_"Teme deserves a shot at happiness,"_ Naruto chatted on, oblivious to Sakura's pain. He didn't mention Hinata. Or if the impending marriage brings happiness at all.

* * *

**ii.**

Hinata was in Sakura's room, crying. Her embarrassed manservant looked everywhere but at his red faced mistress. Hinata pleading to Sakura to save her save her save her from this marriage. The poor servant telling the poor girl that it's late, your father will not like you staying out late Lady Hinata. Sakura could only cry with the Hyuuga heiress. What could she do to save Hinata anyway?

* * *

**iii.**

Her mother opened the door to their apartment with poorly concealed excitement. Sakura greeted the old matchmaker sitting in their living room with her father. But she barely looked at the framed picture of a man laid on the table before her.

_"He doesn't care about dowries. His father owns a peach farm in Kusagakure. He's the only son and therefore heir to that peach empire,"_ the matchmaker said without much enthusiasm.

_"You see, I'm involved in a little scandal here,"_ Sakura started.

_"Oh he didn't mind inviting the Uchiha to your wedding dear,"_ her mother said eagerly. Her usually boisterous father was eerily silent, nervous even.

_"I didn't even say yes mother."_

Her mother was about to cry. Her father looked the other way. Already old and craving for grandkids. They were not as young as their daughter when they married.

_"This isn't about the Uchiha, is it Sakura?"_ her mother asked. Her father felt the undercurrent. He started to chasten his wife. She didn't give him an opportunity though.

_"You spent the better part of your life chasing after that boy and all for nothing. He gave you nothing but heartache and I cannot just watch while you embarrass and lose yourself. It hurts me to see you hurting Sakura because I am your mother, and a mother feel twice the pain her child feels. I want you to be happy once again Sakura, you stopped trying when that boy left."_

The old matchmaker coughed to announce her presence.

_"Just give this a shot,"_ the poor father begged.

Sakura relented.

_"When will he come to see me then?"_

* * *

**iv.**

The boy was two years older than Sakura. He served in the great war and was once badly wounded. It was Sakura who healed his leg. He was proud of the slight limp in his walk. Reminds him of a pretty pink-haired medic, he charmingly said.

He was handsome. He had an easy smile and his every emotion was written on his face. His eyes sparkled too at the sight of Sakura that it was painful to look at him.

_"Miss Haruno, I'm so glad to meet you. Again."_ And he looked damn glad.

The boy, she didn't even dare to memorize his name, reminisced about the war. About seeing Sakura in that hell of a place. Every man in his unit had a crush on her, specially him.

_"I will never hurt you Sakura."_ Now he was being overfamiliar. Sakura winced. She missed Sasuke who made no promises to her.

_"I can't do this,"_ she declared. Her mother listening behind closed doors appeared. No doubt to urge her to give him a chance.

_"I'm sorry,"_ Sakura rose abruptly upsetting her chair. _"I can't do this."_

* * *

**v.**

Sasuke visited the cemetery that evening. He found Sakura sitting before his mother's memorial stone. Sprigs of rosemary on every Uchiha's grave.

_"You tended my family's graves all these years."_

Sakura nodded, not looking at him. He sat before his father's gravestone so that he was beside her. The heat from their bodies filling the space between them. They stayed like that for a time waiting for some falling stars.

_" A guy came to ask for my hand. I met him during the war. Heir to a peach empire. He said he adored me, said he will never hurt me."_ Sakura avoided his eyes, preferring to look at Mikoto Uchiha's name on the stone instead.

_"That's good,"_ Sasuke stared ahead too.

_"He lives in Kusagakure. Lots of large trees and mushroom there they said. I bet it's a scary place."_

_"H-n."_

_"I can't imagine picking peaches and feeding the workers. I mean peaches are fine but they're not like apples. Which of the two do you prefer Sasuke-kun?"_ The girl was trying her hardest to be cheerful.

_"Apples."_

_"Apples yes. Do you remember when you slapped the apples I peeled for you long long ago Sasuke-kun?"_

_"H-n."_ He didn't like where this was going.

She turned to look at him now. She opened her mouth to speak, probably of old grievances, but closed it again. She decided to give him that bittersweet smile instead.

_"Things are starting to look up for you right? with your marriage and eventually kids."_

When it was apparent he won't speak she started to rise. He prevented her with one hand. She flinched at the current flowing from his hand to hers and back again.

_"The Hyuuga clan knows I need their support for the Hokage seat. They have a firm hold in the council. They offer the main branch's heiress in marriage for some conditions. It lends respectability, having her as my wife. It was pure business."_

_"Thank you for telling me Sasuke-kun. I'm sure it'll work out in the end."_ She was tugging at the arm he restrained.

_"I wish."_ And he was pulling her towards him.

* * *

**vi.**

They made love there on top of his father's grave. He was impatient, demanding with her. She was pushing him away at first. But Sasuke rained down kisses on her until she weakened. She snaked her arms around his neck.

He plunged without finesse, only with pure need. She cried out. Through her tears he was a blur of hair damp with sweat- mouth wet with spit, hands rough, and penis big and proud. She writhed and clutched to him. He crushed her roughly against him.

No words. Only strained breaths. She was sandwiched between him and the ground. His fingers were digging into her. Her hands were clutching his father's gravestone. Her virgin blood staining the ground.

Sasuke, ramming at great length, stared at his father's name on the gravestone. Here father. Here is heaven.


	4. The Marred Portrait

**i.**

He was aware he was smothering her after his high. She had difficulty breathing yet she wouldn't let go of him.

_"Sasuke-kun..."_ She kissed the side of his neck reverently.

But he liked her best when she's indifferent to him. Something about the way she cling to him made him angry. This girl (no, woman) with her almost religious fervor to have his soul will suck the life out of him.

He hated the look on her face just then. That look saying she can do him better than all the girls in the village combined. That look of triumph. You broke my hymen now be a man and marry me and we will be merry and my love will be good for your wicked soul. That look.

He forcefully tore from her embrace and rolled on top of his mother's grave. His back facing her so that he missed seeing the disappointed look on her face. In his anger, Sasuke might like it.

* * *

**ii.**

Her mother waiting out for her. Didn't miss the leaves and bits of soil sticking on her.

_"Training?"_ Her mother was suspicious and had the right to be. They were after all living in a halcyon period where owing to the fact that known enemies were defeated, missions were rare and pose little or no risk to ninja's life.

Sakura would have replied if she didn't cover her mouth with one hand. Red red swollen lips hidden from her mother's sharp eyes.

* * *

**iii.**

Sakura didn't wear the wedding dress that night. Instead she examined his marks on her neck, shoulders, breasts, waist, hips, buttocks and thighs in front of the mirror.

* * *

**iv.**

Tenten eloped with a silk trader whose father once supplied mulberry silk bedding to the Uchihas.

Tenten's irascible fiance with his attendants chased the lovers all the way to the Land of Iron. The lovers, cornered on a snowy cliff with nothing but pointy rocks below, jumped to their freedom.

Tenten was fine. The young silk trader, being a commoner was far from fine.

Sakura and Ino saw Tenten's return to the village. The fire in the weapons-user was gone, in place was a ghost of a girl. Tenten's fiance was fine with it. What's better than a docile wife anyway?

The returning party was loud. No one but Sakura noticed the bag of bones dumped in a corner. The material was made of fine mulberry silk.

* * *

**v.**

Sasuke invited himself over, meaning to apologize. Her parents were out.

_"So Sai painted Tenten. I was afraid Tenten will kill Sai since he got her hair color wrong. Orange hair! Can you believe that guy? Sai said it suits her and Tenten laughed like she never did before. It was a relief to hear her laugh again."_ She was her usual self. She expected the same of him. As if they hadn't had sex once.

_"Tell me more about your Peach King,"_ he said in a mocking tone.

She was silent for a while. Her eyes transfixed on her tea.

_"He knows about you. In fact, he wants to invite you to the wedding."_

Does he? Sasuke came to stand behind her. Pulled her up. Pushed her face down the low table. His hands clearing away the dainty tea set. He lifted her skirt, held her panties to the side, freed his arousal and bucked into her. Will that Peach King dare to invite me now, Sakura?

* * *

**vi.**

Her tightness resisting his girth. He had to ram it in hard.

The low table digging into her hips. her hands so clammy she had difficulty holding on to the table's surface. His hands touching her everywhere. Her fingers finding the edge of the table then clutching on to it. The table moving inch by inch to the wall. Their knees following suit. The table hitting the wall it shook. His grunts. Her whimpers. Her mouth gaping like a fish. His sweat making a pool on her back. His parcel on a side table nearby falling falling falling to the floor. Then her first orgasm.

These fragments she remembered, forgetting the rest.

* * *

**vii.**

The room was a mess. Broken tea bowls at the foot of the table. Matcha tea splattered down the wall.

Sakura still propped on the table, tugged her skirt down; semen running down her inner thighs. Sasuke still hard and not bothering to tuck it in his pants, inspected the frame inside the fallen parcel.

It was a portrait of Hinata commissioned by the Hyuugas and given to the Uchiha. Cracks on the glass frame marred the upper portion of the portrait so that only the girl's hands were visible. White hands peeking out from the sleeves of her yukata and clutching an uchiwa.

The head of the Hyuuga clan was so proud then with his cleverness. He told several witnesses after the dowry negotiation that it was no accident the fan was there on the portrait.

Sasuke smirked. He didn't care for omens so he couldn't possibly read what the marred portrait tells.


End file.
